2025 MLB Thread

[Westheim]

Rizzo must be one of the nicest guys in the league. Or right now, not in the league. Not a great time to be a first baseman-first baseman, as in, not even casually acquainted to leftfield, and you're also 30 or over. Or well over.

Look how long it took Big Pete to sign.

And next year we'll have that drama all over again in Metsland.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Left field is the OPPOSITE direction of shifts. It's an easier position to play.

The "Defensive spectrum" defined by Bill James goes like this, from hardest to easiest:

C > SS > 2B > CF > 3B > RF > LF > 1B > DH.

You want to move to right as you age, not to the left.

Bill James is no God. Just because he wrote something doesn't mean it's necessarily true. Whether 2B or 3B is a difficult position to play really depends on your skillset. In my mind, you really want a strong and accurate arm to play 3B with quick twitch reactions, while for 2B you need to be more athletic and faster in general to cover the increased ground. Now at 30 (soon to be 31 years old) does Bregman profile to be a great 2B? Maybe not, but if you check his minor league stats, he primarily played SS. And from what I've heard, everyone thought he'd probably play 2B in the majors, but with Altuve there they moved him to 3B. So that tells me that while he might not be a great 2B, he'll probably be fine there. If he didn't have the skillset to play 2B, he wouldn't have played SS in the minors.

Now would he be more valuable at 3B with how bad Devers is there? Maybe, I don't know. I don't like the Red Sox so the more strife over there the better.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Robot umps are here: What MLB players need to know to navigate ABS this spring

I forgot about this and now I am confused about it. I thought that the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) would be calling balls and strikes, period. There would still be a home plate umpire for other purposes but he would not be making balls and strikes calls.

Reading the article, however, I see that it's a challenge system?

This sounds ridiculous. I can see the two challenges being used up in the first inning of every game.

This article also posits that the strike zone is going to change. That is, it's going to be rigidly enforced as the rectangle that it's supposed to be. "That strike zone called by human umpires in the big leagues may be a rectangle in theory — but it’s more like an oval in real life. That’s because many pitches up and in, or up and away, are not called strikes by human umps, even though they’re technically in the zone."

Attachment 1049570

The author makes a few other points but none as strong as these two.

This blows my mind. Not that they're going to a challenge system, I welcome that (I was afraid they might go with full robo umps), but that they're going to use a completely different strike zone for the challenges. What in the world are they thinking? Seriously, this is crazy. How did these details not come out in the years they were testing it in the minors? Was it reported somewhere and I just missed it? My first issue is some players clearly crouch more while others stand up straighter. Now one might say, "we can't change the parameters of the strike zone every pitch". Why not? Umps supposedly do. Besides, if you can track where a 90+mph with movement went in flight every pitch, surely you can track how tall the player is crouching. Put a little chip in the top of their helmets if it helps. And maybe even worse, they're not even using a 3D image if the strike zone, they're using a 2D vertical plane close to the middle of the plate. How stupid is that! If you can tell where that 2D plane is then surely you can be able to also tell where the front and back of the plate is! This is not rocket science, MLB. Tennis was able to pioneer this stuff in 2003, it's 22 years later now! Figure it out right or don't use it at al!

I'm also a little annoyed that it's only 2 challenges. From everything we've been hearing it was 3 and it was going to be 3, but now it's only 2? I was hoping for more than 3. 2 per inning would have been better. This strikes me as, "we don't really want a better called game, we just want to be able to point at it and say, hey, we did something".

I also love that Francona reportedly instructed his players not to engage with the ABS system at all this spring training. I laugh thinking how mad MLB must be at that.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Yanks allow beards.

About time.

People are happy about this? Why? I was disappointed to read that. And I'm not someone who thinks we should only ever be clean shaven (I haven't been fully clean shaven in years), but I still liked that the Yankees had this rule apparently unique to them. It was like they were saying, "we're professionals here. if you don't want to act like a professional, then you're not welcome". I loved that. Now they're saying, "yeah, whatever, do what you want, we don't care about good baserunning or anything anymore".

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by kq76

It was like they were saying, "we're professionals here. if you don't want to act like a professional, then you're not welcome".

At least they were clean shaven

[low]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

It’s just so… 1950s coded, the whole idea that people will stay home and watch a game on TV instead of going to the ballpark if they have the time and money. If anything, having the game readily available on a streaming platform is going to lead more people to tune in to games, even just to have them on the background in the evening, and that in turn is going to make “hmm, I’m off tonight, why not go to the game instead of just listening to it” seem like more of an option.

I think there’s also an implicit admission in this that they think watching the game is better than seeing it in person and a. I just don’t think that’s true, especially with the pitch clock rules (although even before I found batters dawdling in between pitches a lot more tolerable when going to see games than at home, and b. with streaming you can even have the game on your phone if you want to catch the score bug (the live experience is inevitably better IMO but hey, I do use my phone to look guys up on FG and Baseball Cube) or listen to your favorite announcer (and unlike the radio, reception is at least a different issue). At worst you get the best of both worlds; at best, I insist that seeing baseball live is a transformative experience.

I get why it was done. Brewers games are blacked out for me and I live three hours from Milwaukee. I can't decide to just go to a game on a whim.

I'm going to try the FanDuel network thing for a year and see how it goes. I'm thankful they at least have the same on-air staff from the FSN and Bally Sports days.

[Amazin69]

Going to live baseball is nice…but I live 193.6 miles from the nearest MLB park and

a) I don't have a car
b) it's the Braves, so I've yet to avail myself of the joys of Smyrna GA.

I'd watch on my phone except that

a) I already wear glasses
b) why am I paying $$$ (travel costs, other activities) to do something I'd ordinarily do at home?
c) I only have two hands. One for the keyboard and one for petting my cat seems a better idea. Also, the weather is better indoors.

I think a less-exotic default is just fine. JMO.

[Déjà Bru]

I read an earlier article that contemplated where Vladdy would land in free agency, now that he's ruled the Jays to be only co-competitors with other teams.

One of the projected destinations was New York. As in Yankees. If you know the history, you would have shaken your head at that point.

But here, this morning, is this headline:

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. says he would sign with Yankees in free agency despite old comments: 'It's in the past'

This made me chuckle.

For those of you who don't know or don't remember, this is what he said:

For reference, Guerrero said the following in 2022: "I like to play in New York. I like to kill the Yankees. I would never sign with the Yankees, not even (when I'm) dead," He had on multiple occasions since echoed that he would not consider the Yankees. "It goes back with my family," he said at one point. "That's my decision, and I will never change that."

We took that as fierce Blue Jays loyalty at the time, or at least a genuine aversion to the New York Yankees. Fine, we can deal with that.

But here it is, money time, and now he was only fooling. Or something.

What a load of crap some of these professional athletes are. But then again, Brian and Hal will leap at the chance to sign him if they can.

In OOTPB, if I get one of those e-mails from a player complaining about his playing time, and the game has chosen a snide version of the message, the guy goes on the trading block immediately. I would be a terrible GM in real life.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Westheim

At least they were clean shaven

That's an interesting video for another reason. While you can make a case for that being A-Rod's play, about two-thirds of the way through you see a close-up of Jeter loudly calling for the ball. A-Rod should have backed off, regardless.

Then, watch Jeter's body language afterwards. He doesn't even look for the dropped ball; he just trots away in the opposite direction. Of course, being the ultimate professional, he displays no emotion on his face but his immediate reaction shows he was ticked.

Things weren't always rosy between those two.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by kq76

Bill James is no God. Just because he wrote something doesn't mean it's necessarily true. Whether 2B or 3B is a difficult position to play really depends on your skillset. In my mind, you really want a strong and accurate arm to play 3B with quick twitch reactions, while for 2B you need to be more athletic and faster in general to cover the increased ground. Now at 30 (soon to be 31 years old) does Bregman profile to be a great 2B? Maybe not, but if you check his minor league stats, he primarily played SS. And from what I've heard, everyone thought he'd probably play 2B in the majors, but with Altuve there they moved him to 3B. So that tells me that while he might not be a great 2B, he'll probably be fine there. If he didn't have the skillset to play 2B, he wouldn't have played SS in the minors.

Now would he be more valuable at 3B with how bad Devers is there? Maybe, I don't know. I don't like the Red Sox so the more strife over there the better.

TBH this isn't even about James being a god or not. The defensive spectrum was never intended as anything more than a quick, back-of-the-napkin deal. Usually shortstops converting to 3rd base have an easier time of it than 3rd basemen converting to shortstop. That's pretty much all this says. And yeah, with 2nd vs 3rd the big deal there isn't that 2nd is a harder position necessarily, it's that the skillset you need - hands + range, not necessarily a great arm - is a little bit harder to come across than what you need to play 3rd - hands + arm, not necessarily great range. On the *whole* 2nd is still a position with harder-to-come-by skills but that certainly doesn't mean that an individual player will always be worse at 2nd than at 3rd.

I'm not sure Bregman has any kind of first step anymore but that's not at all a question that's answered by "look at the defensive spectrum"...

[Syd Thrift]

dola,

Originally Posted by low

I get why it was done. Brewers games are blacked out for me and I live three hours from Milwaukee. I can't decide to just go to a game on a whim.

I'm going to try the FanDuel network thing for a year and see how it goes. I'm thankful they at least have the same on-air staff from the FSN and Bally Sports days.

Even if you live right next door to the stadium there are going to be nights you can't take the time / spend the extra money to go see a game and I'm just plain unconvinced that on par TV / video streams do anything but have a (possibly small) positive effect on attendance. Watching a game live is just plain different from watching it on TV.

It's definitely worse out in the Midwest where you've got these places that are really nowhere near a team but who get subject to "local" blackout rules. I remember when I lived in Indy I think we got all of the Cubs, White Sox, and Reds blacked out. That was really dumb. I wasn't taking a train or whatever up to Chicago and spending the night in a hotel just to watch the Mariners play them when they were in town. But that's just an extension of the already stupid blackout rules, which were created to combat an issue that doesn't exist.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

I was saddened to hear that Anthony Rizzo remains unsigned at this late date, not because he's looking for a great deal but apparently nobody wants him.

He was quoted in The Athletic:

"I've definitely thought about it [i.e., retirement]. I think I have a lot to give to the game still.

"But at the same time, if teams are not going to want to pay a few million dollars for veterans, I've seen it the last 10 years of my career. It's what happens to the older guys. They kind of get squeezed. You've seen it happen more and more. I'm not naive to it. It could be it."

I feel bad for him. I'm speaking not from a Yankees perspective because Cubs fans fondly remember him and he seems to be a genuinely good guy. After all is said and done, Anthony Rizzo is a Good Italian Boy.

Seriously, look him up on Wikipedia and check out the "Charity work" section. I guess his beating Hodgkin lymphoma in 2008 may have had an effect on that.

I like Rizzo, a lot..but he fell off a cliff the last couple of years.

.228, with a .301 OBP isn't going to work for a corner power position, to go with his 68 OPS+.

Dude hasn't hit even .250 since 2019.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by kq76

If you check [Bregman's] minor league stats, he primarily played SS. And from what I've heard, everyone thought he'd probably play 2B in the majors, but with Altuve there they moved him to 3B.

Alex Bregman made his major-league debut on July 25, 2016. A lot of things were different then. Donald Trump had just been named the Republican nominee. While David Bowie and Prince had died earlier in that year, the Grim Reaper hadn't yet gotten Tom Petty (2016 was a rough year for veteran rockers. And that's not even counting Lemmy, who drew the Ace of Spades in the final week of 2015). The Scrubs hadn't won a World Series since Teddy Roosevelt was in the White House. And so on.

More pertinently, in 2016, Bregman was 22 years old. He'll turn 31 on March 30th. His age 31 body is likely significantly larger than his age 22 body (due to bone development, building mass via workouts, etc) and less-flexible. If he had been a 2B all this time, there would be thoughts of moving him to 3B or the outfield by now.

To try and do it in reverse is just silly. I defy you to find an over-30 player who made the move successfully, after spending more than a season with easier duties.

(In 1979, the Mets did restore 31-year-old Richie Hebner to 3B, after he'd spent the previous 2 seasons at 1B. [The Phillies having this "Mike Schmidt" guy at 3rd.]. But it only lasted for a season, and then Hebner was a 1B/DH in Detroit. And 3B isn't as demanding a position as 2B, anyhow.)

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

TBH this isn't even about James being a god or not. The defensive spectrum was never intended as anything more than a quick, back-of-the-napkin deal...

My point with that is some people seem to think, "oh person X I like said Y, therefore I can turn my brain off and just accept what I think it means without questioning whether it's really true or if it really applies". And I just don't think it applies here nor do I think there's really that big of a skill gap between 2B and 3B. It's more that the skillsets needed are different. Personally, I'd even put CF above 2B.

There was a point I meant to include in that post that I forgot to. What's the position that we sometimes see teams put players at that surprises us? 2B. Like remember when Milwaukee put Moustakas at 2B and everybody asked, "what the?". Was he great there? Probably not, but it wasn't the disaster some people seemed to think it was going to be. Sure, a young Jackie Robinson would be better, but Bregman will be fine, and with what he brings with his bat at that position he'll be more than fine. Just like we see at other positions, it's not just what they bring with the glove, but also what they bring with the bat.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by kq76

\Like remember when Milwaukee put Moustakas at 2B and everybody asked, "what the?". Was he great there? Probably not, but it wasn't the disaster some people seemed to think it was going to be. .

Moose Tacos had a grand total of 40 starts at 2B for Milwaukee in 2019. (He had 93 starts at 3B for the Brewers that year.) Then he had 31 starts at 2B for Cincy in COVID-ball and that was pretty much it. 72 career 2B starts total.

He had negative dWAR each year. Call me crazy, but I think that the Red Sox would like something better than that, considering their investment. I just don't think they're likely to get it.

[Déjà Bru]

Hey, the final letter grades for the 2024-25 MLB off-season are out! See how your team did and follow the link for the short blurb of substantiation:

Arizona Diamondbacks: A
Athletics: B-
Atlanta Braves: C
Baltimore Orioles: C
Boston Red Sox: A-
Chicago White Sox: B-
Chicago Cubs: B+
Cincinnati Reds: B
Cleveland Guardians: C
Colorado Rockies: F
Detroit Tigers: B
Houston Astros: D
Kansas City Royals: B-
Los Angeles Angels: B-
Los Angeles Dodgers: A
Miami Marlins: F
Milwaukee Brewers: C
Minnesota Twins: D
New York Yankees: A-
New York Mets: A
Philadelphia Phillies: B+
Pittsburgh Pirates: F
San Diego Padres: C
San Francisco Giants: B-
Seattle Mariners: D
St. Louis Cardinals: F
Tampa Bay Rays: B-
Texas Rangers - B
Toronto Blue Jays - B+
Washington Nationals - C

No punches pulled. This is the assessment for the Miami Marlins: "This is not a serious major-league organization." Ouch.

[LD84]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

No punches pulled. This is the assessment for the Miami Marlins: "This is not a serious major-league organization." Ouch.

We knew that when they slowly took away the powers and responsibilities of Kim Ng and then was going to hire someone over her and not extend her contract.
After she led the team to it's first playoffs since 2003 and then repeated it again in 2023.

[Syd Thrift]

Mariners: INC

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Moose Tacos had a grand total of 40 starts at 2B for Milwaukee in 2019. (He had 93 starts at 3B for the Brewers that year.) Then he had 31 starts at 2B for Cincy in COVID-ball and that was pretty much it. 72 career 2B starts total.

He had negative dWAR each year. Call me crazy, but I think that the Red Sox would like something better than that, considering their investment. I just don't think they're likely to get it.

A lot of players have a negative dWAR. What matters is if they're a net positive with their offense. I don't know if Bregman will have a negative dWAR or not, but I'm pretty sure he'll be a net positive. And if he's not, or he really struggles at 2B, I'm sure the Red Sox will figure something out. It's only a 3-year contract and given there are opts out after year 1 and 2 I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves on his own accord. If I were them, I'd be more concerned over the Devers situation.

Bregman was a good signing. I wish the Jays had signed him.

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Toronto Blue Jays - B+

*shakes head in dismay*

It's more like a D. I can't wait for the day they get rid of Shapiro and Atkins. If only we could keep them for the pitching side of the organization and bring in a totally different group to acquire and develop the hitting side. I wonder if there's ever been a management group that was so good at one side of the game while so bad at the other. I'm not even that opposed to any of the losses or acquisitions, it's just I have absolutely zero faith in management.

Instead of signing him to play, I would have been more excited if they had signed Max Scherzer to be GM. He's a smart dude.

[Cobra Mgr]

Rays "lying to our residents"

Thing is, as tough as they are talking now, I'm sure the politicians are going to give in. Rays will probably donate to one of their "foundations" or "political action committees" to get the city to fork over public dollars.